Friday, April 25, 2008

Postgame Notes 24 April 2008

Phil Hughes can't seem to buy a win.

When tonight's game got under way, 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, Phil Hughes looked great. His pitches were working and his pitch count was kept down, and then the Yankees went to get him a three run lead.

Had the rain held off then, the Yankees may have well been on their way to a sweep of the White Sox.

Alas, the weather and baseball deities had another fate in store.

It is becoming exceedingly clear that Ross Ohlendorf really can't go more than one inning. The more he is used, the more that analogies to Scott Proctor are going to start to come up, and that's not really fair--Ohlendorf has good stuff, much better than say, Farnsworth or Bruney, but overuse will kill any arm.

To the Yankees' credit, they did not say 'die', and despite falling behind 6-3, they managed to tie the game on a Melky Cabrera home run and Morgan Ensberg single, though they could not get the break through hit to give them a lead.

While no loss is fun, losing in nine innings may have been a blessing in disguise--the Yankees were playing with a short bullpen, without the use of Brian Bruney (sprained foot), and, given Mariano Rivera's five out save yesterday, one has to think that Girardi ould have done all he could to avoid using him.

That said, the Yankees may need to keep Joba Chamberlain from pitching a second inning of work in close games in the midwest.

OPTIMIST TAKE: Phil Hughes looked great in the two innings he was allowed to pitch. Bobby Abreu had his 1000th RBI. Melky Cabrera crushed another home run, and is quickly turning into one of the best players on the Yankees' offense this year. Kyle Farnsworth had a good outing.

2 comments:

  1. I agree about Ohlendorf. When he was a starter his pitches were slow and fat, but when he switched to the bullpen he picked up velocity and movement. Last night we saw two different Rosses. The first inning he was impressive, in the second inning of work he wasn't getting any movement on the ball. I think he's a quality reliever, but best used for only one inning, perhaps a closer role.

    When is Girardi going to learn his lesson and bring up Rasner (or another long reliever)? He's continuously overworking the bullpen and needs an inning-muncher.

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  2. Jeff -agree with everything you said. I thought all along the Yanks should have taken a long reliever (Rasner) out of spring training. The schedule (all the games and no days off) dictated the need for a long man.

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